Eyass
by Yellow Mask
Summary: NOW COMPLETE! Eyass n., a fledgling who has not yet left the nest, a hawk's offspring. Set after the movie, there have been some interesting happenings in Roy's absence...Royai.
1. The Child

**Eyass**

**By Yellow Mask**

**Spoilers:** End of series and movie spoilers.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own FMA.

**Chapter 1**

**The Child**

_AN: I've asked myself why I write so much about the anime (I've got several other 'happy-ending' fics in the works), especially when the manga has much more blatant Royai and Edwin. And I've come to a conclusion; the anime/movie ended badly, and I want to fix it._

**oooooooo**

The newly-reinstated Colonel Mustang grinned as he strode down the corridor. After a two year absence, he had almost forgotten what it was like to stride these halls. It felt good.

"Good to have you back, sir," Havoc grinned as he entered the office. "It's been hell – no piece of paperwork goes unfinished with Hawkeye watching."

Roy's smile sobered at the thought of the lieutenant. What would he say to her? What could he say, after...?

Roy closed his eyes briefly as memory surged, tormenting him – as it had for the past two years – with tantalising recollections of bare skin, of soft words, of love-filled red eyes. How long had it been?

Three weeks. Three weeks with Riza as his lover. Three weeks of what had been, for Roy, pure heaven. Three weeks that had lasted him two years.

What was he supposed to say? What could he say? _'I'm sorry, Riza, I really did love you, but I had an unresolved issue or ten, and decided to run to the frozen wastes to try and work them out. But I still love you, madly and passionately, and I was wondering if you'd consider marrying me?'_

Roy sighed. It might be the honest truth, but he doubted it would go over well.

He was broken out of his thoughts by Riza striding into the office. "Gracia should be here soon, and she apologises for her lateness."

"Late?" Roy repeated blankly.

Fuery smiled. "But we'll still see little Eyass, right?"

Riza nodded, her eyes cautious, looking at Roy.

Breda, Fuery and Havoc's eyes darted between them, Falman looking studiously at the wall, and Roy suddenly felt the tension in the room skyrocket. Why were they looking at him like that? Why wouldn't Riza meet his eyes?

They were interrupted by Gracia walking in.

Elysia was beside her, smiling cheerfully and clutching a stuffed dog in the crook of one arm. But what surprised Roy was the baby Gracia held.

She was young, perhaps a little over a year, with the usual infant chubbiness. There was a soft mop of gold hair on her head, and her eyes were tightly closed, her face screwed up as she fussed in Gracia's arms.

"What's her name?" he asked, inclining his head at the girl.

To his surprise, Gracia's eyes darted to Riza before she responded. "Amelia...I babysit her on weekdays."

"Mama," the toddler gurgled, her eyes tiny slits in her face. "Mama!"

Gracia smiled, "I think she wants her mother."

And to Roy's astonishment, Gracia passed the baby into Riza's arms.


	2. His Daughter

**Chapter 2**

**His Daughter**

Riza accepted the fussing baby with a sort of weary fondness. "Was she any trouble?"

"The usual," Gracia grinned. "An angel, until we get into the military headquarters. Then it's 'Mama, Mama, Mama'!"

"Hey, little Eyass," Havoc cooed, "Uncle Jean thinks you've grown since last time." He tickled Amelia's stomach, and she squealed with laughter. "But you're still the cutest thing around."

Fuery, Breda and Falman gathered around as well, all cooing at the baby and caressing her hair.

Roy stood where he was, rooted to the spot in shock. He was about to start forwards, but then Amelia turned her face towards him.

And he nearly choked. He knew those coal-black eyes...they were exactly the same as the one that stared back at him from the mirror. Roy had no doubt who had fathered the child in Riza's arms.

_'No...' _he thought in despair. _'How could I have done this to her, on top of everything else?'_

"You guys know the drill," Riza said, walking past Roy to the door, eyes glued to the floor. "See that you stick to it."

All military personnel (except Roy, who was still in a state of shock) saluted as she left the office.

"What's..." Roy moistened his suddenly-dry lips. "What's the drill?"

Havoc shuffled his feet, feeling as guilty as the others looked. "Hawkeye has lunch with little Eyass now – she works during the lunch break to make up for it – and we're supposed to keep our heads down and work."

"Eyass?" Roy muttered weakly.

"I came up with that one," Falman admitted. "Eyass is a a hawk's hatchling that hasn't left the nest yet. Hawkeye...Eyass...you know?"

"Right," Roy said blankly, his mind obviously elsewhere.

He walked to the window, watching as Riza entered the courtyard with Amelia in her arms. She sat on the bench, as she rummaged in her satchel, obviously searching for something. Amelia sat on the ground at her feet, smiling as her hands tangled in Black Hayate's fur. The dog rolled over, tongue lolling, as he invited Amelia to scratch his belly. The girl complied, dark eyes shining.

And Roy couldn't stop staring.

_'Why didn't she tell me?'_

Roy's eyes closed against a swift rush of anguish. Riza had been pregnant when he'd left for the north. She had waved him off with his child growing within her – why hadn't she said anything?

Another, grimmer thought struck him. Had she even known? Or had she discovered it later, alone in her apartment, with no one to share in a revelation that should have been nothing but joy? A revelation that his absence had caused to be bittersweet at best, utterly heartbreaking at worst.

As Riza pulled her lunch from her satchel and hefted Amelia in her arms, Roy turned away from the window, utterly stunned.

That was his daughter!

He stared at the bland wood of his desk, trying to wrap his mind around the concept. He gradually became aware that the others in the room were watching him warily, as they might eye a venomous snake they expected to strike at any moment.

Roy's eyes rose, landing on Havoc and Breda, who were looking especially guilty.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Roy heard the anger in his own voice, and made a concerted effort to contain it. After all, they might not know Amelia was his...

But any doubts about the extent of their knowledge were erased the second Havoc spoke. "We figured it wasn't our place to tell you. I can't speak for Breda, but just I thought you should learn you were a father from Riza, and no one else."

Breda's expression spoke of complete and total agreement.

"You knew I was...?" Roy began, and Havoc nodded.

"Hawkeye was very quiet about it," Fuery spoke up. "I mean, she told us she was pregnant, but nothing about the father or the circumstances..."

"Not to say we didn't have our suspicions," Falman cut in. "But we figured, if you _were_ the father, the last thing Hawkeye would want was us bringing it up. So we sat back and let her handle it..."

"And then Amelia was born," Breda finished. "One look at those eyes...well, we're not stupid. Any doubts about little Eyass's paternity were erased in a split second."

Roy licked his lips. "How did...how was Riza...?"

"While she was pregnant?" Havoc supplied. At Roy's nod, he elaborated. "Well, we didn't see much in the way of mood swings-"

"For which we are deeply thankful," Breda interjected.

Havoc laughed. "Yeah, nothing worse than a pregnant woman with a gun! Lord have mercy if she'd been having mood swings on top of that!"

Gracia, listening silently until now, began to speak. "She asked me for advice frequently. What to eat, what not to eat, how much she could exercise, what positions were best for sleep when she got really big..."

Roy continued staring into space. He was hearing the words, but his brain had yet to process them. He had a daughter! He and Riza had a child!

"She took a lengthly maternity leave," Gracia continued, but Fuery had started again.

"She called us for the birth, can you believe? We came in just after they had finished cleaning both of them up, and we saw the nurse put this little bundle in Hawkeye's arms..." Fuery paused, his lowering, almost reverent. "Her smile, it was...I've never seen her smile like that."

Now everyone was glancing at the window, checking on the pair in the courtyard. Both had finished their lunch, and Amelia was back to playing with Black Hayate, the poor dog seeming almost exasperated as she pulled on his ears. But when the toddler yawned, Riza picked her up, beginning to rock her daughter in her arms.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Roy breathed.

Havoc looked distinctly uncomfortable. "You'll have to ask her."

A sudden surge of decisiveness had Roy striding to the door and making his way to the courtyard. He needed to know, and there was no time like the present.

**oooooooo**

_AN: I was writing an overused Edwin cliché – with them having slept together before he went through the Gate, and Winry being left pregnant – anyway, while I was writing, I wondered if anyone had ever put a Royai spin on that plot. After all, with Roy and Riza's little scene together at the end of the anime, the idea that they were lovers before he left gains some serious ground. So, while I may upload the Edwin story at some point in time, I started this story in an attempt to be at least halfway original.  
_


	3. The Price Of Absence

**Chapter 3**

**The Price Of Absence**

Gravel crunched beneath Roy's boots as he stepped into the courtyard. Amelia was asleep in her mother's arms, her small head resting on Riza's shoulder, her mother's cheek against her hair. Tiny hands grasped fistfuls of blue uniform, crumpling the fabric.

"Riza?"

Riza swallowed – a nervous reflex. She kept her eyes closed, her face in Amelia's hair, trying to summon a modicum of emotional distance.

"Yes, sir?"

He paused, an almost imperceptible stutter in his step. "Please...don't call me that. Not now."

"Very well. Yes, _Roy_?" Riza put particular emphasis on his name, wondering why she had acquiesced to his request in the first place.

Roy took a deep breath. _'Here we go, now or never. Just don't beat around the bush – she hates that.'_

"Amelia...is she...mine?" He already knew, but for some reason, he wanted her to confirm it.

Riza's head tilted, the nod so small it barely shifted the strands of her daughter's hair.

"Why didn't you tell me?" The question would have been an accusation, if Roy hadn't been so terribly aware of the fact that he had little right to be angry with her.

Riza opened her eyes, but kept them staring straight ahead. Black Hayate was still sitting at her feet, beginning to fidget as he picked up on the undercurrent of tension.

_'Undercurrent?'_ she thought bitterly. _'More like a tsunami!'_

Roy was still gazing at her, waiting for a reply.

"You weren't there, Roy," Riza stated simply. "I found out about two weeks after you...after you left. I was late, and considering our recent...activities...I checked."

Roy tried not to flinch, but her bald statement – _'you weren't there'_ – sent pain through him. The misery was only exacerbated by the irrefutable fact that she was right. He hadn't been there. He hadn't been there when the woman he loved discovered she was carrying his child. No, he'd been half-way across the country, shivering under a pile of blankets and wishing that she was lying next to him.

"You..." he tried to talk past the lump in his throat, growing by the second like some sort of swelling infection. "You could have sent word..."

Her eyes rose, at last, and met his. The look in them chilled him. He had been prepared for anger, for fury...he hadn't expected the quiet aura of sorrow she was radiating. All he could read in her eyes was defeat and resignation. As though she had given up. As though she had given up a long time ago.

"You didn't ask to be a father," Riza continued. "And I refused to let myself become a burden to you. We parted on good terms, and I couldn't allow my pregnancy to be the only thing that brought you back to me. If you came back, you had to come back because you wanted to, not because you felt obligated to."

Riza stood, trying to rein in her emotions. But it was hard to push away her feelings for Roy with their daughter slumbering in her arms. Her eyes slid closed, and she fought back tears. Every word felt like broken glass in her throat, every syllable an affirmation of the truth she had hidden from for so long.

Roy didn't love her.

"Children should come from love, Roy," she whispered softly, dropping her eyes back to the sleeping Amelia. "And while I don't regret what happened for one instant...it...wasn't love..."

She took a deep breath. Those three words hurt more than even she would have believed possible. She could feel Roy's eyes on her, but didn't raise her head again, afraid that if she met his eyes, she would lose her resolve.

"I thought about it after you left, and came to a conclusion. It was a needy fuck, Roy. We'd been through a lot of physical and emotional trauma. You had a disfiguring injury, and...I think you just needed reassurance...needed to know your wound didn't destroy your ability to connect with someone else. And I..."

Riza hesitated. But decided she had to tell the truth. Complete honesty was the only thing that was going to bury this. And maybe, in time, her love for him would fade. It could never disappear completely, she knew that, but with time, it might become...less vivid, less compelling.

She released a gusty sigh. "And that night, when you kissed me...I loved you too much to deny you...and I thought you loved me. I don't want you to feel guilty, I was the one who deluded myself. After all, I was the one who took you seriously when you told me you loved me – you, probably the greatest playboy the military has ever seen."

She thought Roy twitched at that, but as she only glimpsed his outline from the corner of her eye, she couldn't be sure.

"My mind knew that you'd probably said that a hundred times to get into a woman's bed, but my heart...my heart fooled me into believing I was different. I guess, when it comes down to it, I'm not so different to those bimbos that used to hang off your arm."

She had to stop, had to take another breath to control herself. But that thought cut like a knife – that she hadn't been any different to those idiots who fluttered and simpered around him. She'd been just as gullible, just as foolish.

"I love you, Roy."

She heard him suck in a stunned gasp.

"But you needn't worry this will interfere with work. I won't bother you, I won't try to be anything but your aide, your faithful lieutenant. And if I give it time, I'm sure it will fade. And that would probably be best for both of us."

When she at last looked up, Roy was staring at her with an odd expression on his face. She couldn't place it, and at the moment, she didn't have the energy to try. Where would it get her?

Riza ensured no part of her body contacted his as she stepped around him and walked back inside.

**oooooooo**

_AN: Thanks to all my reviewers, sorry this took so long._


	4. The Fool's Mistake

**Chapter 4**

**The Fool's Mistake**

The radio was wailing out some song about being away for ' far too long'. Roy would have shut it off, except it was so ironic he _had _ to hear it.

Here he was, sitting at his table at nine o'clock at night, no lights on, and a bottle of vodka in front of him. But the alcohol was only for atmosphere. To drink, you had to care enough to try to numb the pain, and right now, Roy thought he deserved to feel every ounce of it. His brief conversation with Riza kept looping in his mind, each word forever burned into his brain.

He'd always thought the whole 'pain of a broken heart' thing was a myth. So he was surprised to find those words _hurt_, a physical ache deep in his chest, as though something were twisting and dying inside. And it had continued, all throughout the day.

Roy had finished work in a daze, still reeling over what Riza had said to him. True to her word, she was the consummate professional, working diligently, and leaving right as the clock struck five. She'd scolded Roy for staring into space, she'd brought him reports and forms, avoiding his eyes as she calmly handed them over to him.

She'd given no hint that their previous conversation had ever occurred, as though her confession had never happened.

"_I love you, Roy,"_

_'I love you, too,'_ he thought in despair. _'I love you so much...why won't you believe me?'_

But, in her position, could he truly blame her? Riza Hawkeye was a very private person, very closed off. But she had opened up for him, and he...

He had left her.

And now he expected her to believe he still loved her? After what he'd done to her, he was surprised she hadn't shot him on the spot.

Roy sat in the dark, the smell of alcohol permeating his nostrils, a sour odour to match his equally sour frame of mind.

_'No one to blame, Roy. No one but yourself. You're the one who left her, who took off north without any explanation except "I need to go". Honestly, it's a wonder she even spoke to you, let alone agreed to continue working with you.'_

_'She thinks I don't love her...but did I give her any reason to think different?'_

_'I told her that I loved her, and she assumed I always said that to a woman I wanted to sleep with. Did I ever tell her that she was the only woman I ever said that to, besides my mother?'_

But Roy already knew. He'd never told her, never taken her by the shoulders and said "Riza, you're the first woman I've truly loved, and the only woman I will ever love. You're the one, and despite the stupid things I may say or do, I love you so much I can't come close to expressing what you mean to me."

He'd never said anything along those lines, nothing that would cement in her mind the fact that she was different from all the other bimbos he'd dated.

They'd been substitutes, really. He'd been desperately in love with Riza, but had always despaired of her feelings. How could someone like Riza fall in love with someone like him? It boggled the mind.

And when he'd finally been handed the one thing he never thought he'd ever receive, the one thing he knew he'd never deserve – Riza's love – he'd left.

If that wasn't deeply screwed up, Roy didn't know what was.

Looking back on it, he found he had no idea why he'd gone up north in the first place. Every reason that had seemed legitimate at the time now seemed trite and feeble.

Roy sat at his table, in the dark, and tried to absorb the fact that Riza was lost to him. He'd had her for three weeks, three weeks that had lasted him two years, and now would have to last him a lifetime.

He felt like crying.

It would have been different if he'd never been with Riza. Then it would be the pain of the road not taken, the path not travelled. The pain of never having the guts to lay it on the line.

But it wasn't that kind of pain. It was the pain of a priceless treasure in his palm, lost by his own stupidity. The pain of regretting what he'd had, and tossed aside.

Because he'd had his chance. He'd been handed the one thing he wanted above everything else, and then thrown it away.

Roy didn't realise he was crying until a teardrop darkened the wood of his tabletop. He thought about brushing the salty water from his cheeks, but what was the point? No one was here to see him, no one was here to witness the fool's remorse over his ultimate mistake.

He'd left her.

Roy dropped his head to rest on the edge of the table. What had he been thinking? The frightening thing was, he couldn't remember. He couldn't remember what could possibly be a valid reason for leaving Riza.

He should have said something. When he was leaving, he should have told her that he could never consider being with anyone else, and that what they had shared had been completely new to him.

Roy Mustang was a man who'd had sex quite frequently. He'd fucked, he'd screwed...but Riza was the only woman he'd ever made love with.

He'd known crushes, he'd known infatuation, but he'd never truly loved until he met Riza.

And she thought he didn't love her?

The truth was, while her feelings might fade, Roy didn't think his would ever go away. They couldn't. He had been in love with Riza for so long he couldn't remember what it was like to _not _love her.

But he'd left her, and she'd obviously told herself it couldn't have been real love.

The thought galvanized Roy into action. He stood swiftly – he go to Riza, he would talk to her. She might not want anything to do with him after the way he'd hurt her, but he owed her the truth. If she walked away from him, she was _not_ going to do so believing she had allowed herself to be duped and used.

_'I wonder if I should ask for my heart back? The one she ripped out of my chest just this afternoon.'_

But then Roy smiled. A self-deprecating smile with a tinge of black humour. Who was he kidding? Let her keep it, it wasn't like he'd ever give it to anyone else.

Roy pulled on his coat and strode out the door. He'd tell her everything, and if she still wanted him gone...then so be it.

But first, Riza was going to know exactly what she meant to him.

**oooooooo**

_AN: Not totally happy with this chapter, but I felt like I needed to show Roy's angst over what Riza said to him.  
_


	5. Reaching Equilibrium

**Chapter 5**

**Reaching Equilibrium**

Riza smiled as she pulled the blanket over the sleeping Amelia. Her daughter was always hard to get to sleep – Riza sometimes felt she spent half the night pacing and rocking her in her arms before she dropped off.

_'But I wouldn't have it any other way,'_ she thought as she stroked Amelia's mop of blonde hair.

A soft knock sounded on her door, and Riza blinked in surprise. She checked the clock – it was late, and she wasn't expecting any visitors.

She was careful to pick up her gun on the way to the door, only to find she needn't have bothered.

"Roy?"

He looked haggard, his eye bloodshot as though he had been crying. She opened the door to him automatically, even though her logical mind screamed at letting a man that had hurt her so deeply into her home again.

He stepped inside, blinking as she put her gun back on the table. "You had a gun?"

"It's very late, Roy, and I wasn't expecting anyone."

He nodded, looking slightly sheepish, as though he had never considered the lateness of the hour. "I...did I wake you up?"

Riza shook her head. "I just managed to put Amelia to bed."

"Ah."

Uncomfortable silence reined.

Then Riza sighed wearily. "What are you doing here, Roy?"

"I...I wanted to talk to you," Roy said at last, stumbling over his words. He could have sworn he'd had this all planned out – what he was going to say, what he was going to do – so why could he think of nothing now?

Riza's eyes hardened. "I think we've said all that needs to be said."

Roy's eye closed briefly. "I don't think so."

Riza bristled. She wasn't about to sit here and listen to some placating lie delivered to soothe his own guilty conscience. She opened her mouth to retort furiously, when he raised a hand to forestall her. The gesture had no affect – it was the expression on his face that caught her attention.

"Please, Riza, just let me say this, and then I promise that if you still want to throw me out...I'll go."

Slowly, Riza closed her mouth, her eyes warning him that whatever he was going to say, it had better be good.

Roy took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself. He wasn't stupid – this was probably his only chance.

"Riza, I love you," he stated simply. She flinched as though struck, and he hastened to continue. "I know you think I've said that to all the women I've slept with, but you're wrong. I know it seems like an oxymoron, but being...the way I was...seemed to give me an appreciation for what love really is. And I can honestly tell you that I have only told two women that I love them, and one of them was my mother."

Riza's eyes widened in surprise.

"Even though I...slept around...I vowed that the only woman I would say that to would be the one I truly wanted to spend the rest of my life with. You."

Roy sighed softly. "Riza, I don't make any attempt to defend my history, but I think I have to say something to you in regards to it. Those women...they were substitutes, Riza. When we...when we were...suffice to say, I'd have to bite my lip to keep from calling your name."

Riza was stunned. He'd wanted her for that long? But then why hadn't he acted on it?

"Why didn't you...?"

"Why didn't I say anything?" Roy supplied, proceeding at her nod. "The truth is, I never believed you could fall in love with me. I'm not an idiot – I know I don't deserve you. The idea that you could ever love me back..." he laughed, a short, self-deprecating laugh. "It just never occurred to me – I knew you were so far out of my league...and you deserved so much more than anything I could offer you."

"But I acted on it eventually," he continued. "And it wasn't what you think – it was far from a needy fuck, or a desire to assure myself I was still desirable after Archer nearly killed me. It had nothing to do with my injury...but it had everything to do with this..."

Riza blinked in surprise as he stepped closer to her, and his hand rose to brush against her right arm. Beneath the sleeve of her shirt, his fingers caressed discoloured, thickened flesh. The scar where Archer's bullet had caught her in the arm.

"He could have killed you, Riza," Roy whispered, his breathing uneven, his voice tight. "If he had aimed just a little to the side..."

He broke off, swallowing harshly. "When I came out of the cellar and saw him standing there...I froze. I knew he would have had to come through you to get there, and I thought...I thought he'd killed you."

Roy's eyes closed, the memory of the despair that thought had caused rising to choke him. "I saw the gun...and part of me just...didn't care. Something in me simply wanted to die when I thought you were dead."

His eyes opened, and locked with Riza's. "Then when I woke up in the hospital and saw you sitting beside me, unharmed except for your arm...it just hit me how close it had been. I realised just how close I had come to losing you without ever telling you how I felt. And I promised myself I would tell you before we left the hospital."

Riza's brow creased in puzzlement at that. "But you..."

"But I kissed you several weeks after I'd come to stay with you, I know." He looked down again, embarrassed. "The truth is...I lost my courage. I kept telling myself that this was the day, this was the day I'd tell you...but the fear kept overwhelming me. I was so afraid you'd reject me...but I managed to conquer my doubts eventually, and I've never regretted it for an instant."

Silence reigned for several moment. Roy was trying to gather his thoughts, and Riza had been shocked speechless by his confession. The fact that he'd been so afraid of rejection showed how much it must have meant to him. But if he really _had_ loved her, why did he leave?

"Why did you leave?" she murmured at last.

Roy chuckled bitterly. "Honestly, I don't know. Everything that seemed like a good reason at the time just seems so idiotic now. I have no excuses, no explanations. I'm sorry, but I truly don't."

Riza nodded. She believed him – the sincerity in his voice was palpable.

"I meant it when I said I loved you, Riza. I loved you then, I love you now, and I think I'll always love you. But I also respect you. I respect you enough to make your own decisions. So if you decide that you don't want me, I'll leave and never mention this again. But...just tell me one thing..."

When he looked up, the tear running from his eye startled Riza.

"...do I have any chance? Any at all?"

Riza paused. Could she forgive him? Did she love him enough to give him another chance?

A little voice in the back of her head was screaming that he'd left her, that he'd hurt her, that she was a fool if she put her heart on the line once more...

But she loved him. That was the crux of the matter – she loved him...she loved him for so long, she didn't know how to stop.

Riza stepped forward, closing the gap between their bodies. She reached upward slowly, her lips meeting his in a soft touch that sent her reeling – reality was so much better then her memories. He returned the kiss without hesitation, keeping it light and gentle, almost reverent.

When she pulled back, she could see his astonishment. It was written all over his face.

She smiled reassuringly. "Yes. Yes, you have a chance. A very good chance, I'd say."

Roy hadn't realised how tense he was until his muscles sagged in relief. He had a chance! She might not have forgiven him completely, but he was surprised she had forgiven him at all.

"Thank you," he whispered. "I never thought...I didn't even dare to hope that you could ever give me another chance..."

"You'd thought I'd toss you out on the street?" Riza asked, mirth dancing in her eyes.

"I expected it," Roy said, his voice serious. "But I...I just had to make you understand that I love you, I'd never use you like that..."

He jumped as a sudden wail split the air. "Wha...?"

"Amelia," Riza gave a wry smile. "She doesn't sleep for long, unfortunately. I'm working on encouraging her to sleep for the entire night, but it's not working very well."

Roy followed her into Amelia's room, watching as she hefted the child into her arms.

And then, to his shock, she passed Amelia to him.

"Riza...?"

"Like this," she said patiently, adjusting his arms so he held Amelia correctly. "Roy, meet Amelia, your daughter."

"Our daughter," he corrected absently.

Amelia had stopped crying, intrigued by the new face above her. She reached up, her grasping fingers snagging on the strap of Roy's eyepatch and tugging.

Roy yelped, and tried to dislodge her grip. But with both his arms holding her up, he didn't dare let go of her to try and prise her fingers away.

"Riza...help?"

Riza laughed, and gently untangled the soft strap from Amelia's grip. "Easy, Amelia, don't pull it off your father's head."

The young girl settled back into his arms obediently, smiling in contentment.

_'My daughter,'_ Roy thought, a slightly dopey grin sliding across his face. _'I'm a father! I'm holding my daughter! My daughter!'_

Her dark, liquid eyes blinked up at him. The blonde hair was all Riza, but she got those eyes from him.

This was daughter. He was holding his daughter in his arms!

He dragged his eye from the tiny face nestling into his chest, looking at Riza. Her eyes were soft as she stared at them, a small smile tilting her lips.

This was _Riza's_ daughter. _Their_ daughter. And the real magic of it lay in that simple sentence. Their daughter. His and Riza's. They'd created life – this little being in his arms had come from both of them. Their love had created a child.

Even now, he could barely believe it. It seemed so astonishing, so fantastic...

"Roy?" Riza's hand on his arm startled him from his thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"She's fallen asleep."

He looked down. Sure enough, Amelia's eyes were closed, her face lax, the fingers of one hand curled into a fist.

He eased her down gently, and Riza pulled the blankets over her sleeping form.

They stole from the room like thieves, Roy still with a broad grin plastered across his face. It was only when they were in the kitchen that he finally turned to her.

"I'm a father!" he laughed. "I'm a father!"

"That you are," Riza agreed.

She couldn't help being mildly amused by the idiotic smile he was wearing, but she found it more touching than hilarious. There had been no mention of Amelia in their discussion earlier, and some part of her had been worried. What if didn't want a child?

But that scene in Amelia's bedroom had erased all her doubts. Roy had fallen in love with his daughter almost instantly, from the moment she had put Amelia in his arms.

"By the way, Riza," Roy began, sounding very serious. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Would you consider marrying me?"

"Only if you move in with me, I refuse to move into that tiny box you call an apartment."

"Fine with me."

"Then, yes, I'd love to. Any particular date in mind?"

**End.**

_AN: There we go, nice happy ending filled with Royai goodness, sorry about the delay in writing/posting this – I wanted to make sure I got it right. I hope everyone enjoyed this, despite the angst, it was a lot of fun to write._


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